Cochin Sambar Masaladar

Sambars are usually fairly soupy - the instructions for this one indicated that it should turn out much thicker but in fact I had to reduce it quite fiercely to get the right consistency. It threatened to be lacking in flavour too, but the final addition of fried onion and whole spices gave it a great lift. I'm not keen on whole fenugreek seeds though - far too hard for comfort - so would probably replace them with cumin in future. I'd recommend being quite conservative with the tamarind; I added 2 tbs (recipe recommends 1-3 according to taste) and found it too much, both in flavour and because it turned the dish from attractive turmeric gold to dingy mud-brown - in fact from the aesthetic point of view I'd be tempted to use lemon juice instead, even though I like the flavour of tamarind.